Dubbed the most Roman city outside Italy,[4] Nîmes has a rich history dating back to theRoman Empire when the city had a population of 50,000–60,000 and was the regional capital.[5][6][7][8] Several famous monuments are in Nîmes, such as theArena of Nîmes and theMaison Carrée. Because of this, Nîmes is often referred to as the "FrenchRome".
Nimes is situated where the alluvial plain of the Vistrenque River abuts the hills of Mont Duplan to the northeast, Montaury to the southwest, and to the west Mt. Cavalier and the knoll of Canteduc.
Its name appears in inscriptions inGaulish asdede matrebo Namausikabo ("he has given to the mothers of Nîmes") and "toutios Namausatis" ("citizen of Nîmes").[9][10]
The Neolithic site of Serre Paradis reveals the presence of semi-nomadic cultivators in the period 4000 to 3500 BCE on the site of Nîmes.[citation needed]
Themenhir of Courbessac (or La Poudrière) stands in a field, near the aerodrome. This limestone monolith of over two metres in height dates to about 2500 BCE, and is considered the oldest monument of Nîmes.
The Bronze Age has left traces of villages that were made out of huts and branches.[citation needed] The population of the site increased during the Bronze Age.
The hill of Mt. Cavalier was the site of the earlyoppidum which gave birth to the city. During the third and 2nd centuries BCE a surrounding wall was built with a dry-stone tower at the summit which was later incorporated into theTour Magne.
Strabo, the Greek geographer, mentioned that this town functioned as the regional capital for theVolcae Arecomici, aCeltic people. The city adopted the name of a local water deity,Nemausus. The town had a healing spring.[11]
The Warrior of Grezan is considered to be the most ancient indigenous sculpture in southern Gaul.[12]
In 123 BCE the Roman generalQuintus Fabius Maximus campaigned against Gallic tribes in the area and defeated theAllobroges and theArverni, while the Volcae offered no resistance. The Roman provinceGallia Transalpina was established in 121 BCE[13] and from 118 BCE theVia Domitia was built through the later site of the city.
Amphitheatre used today for concerts and bullfights
Amphiteatre Interior
Temple of Diana
Roman temple, the "Maison Carrée"
Roman wall foundations
The Augustan Gate
The city arose on the importantVia Domitia which connected Italy withHispania.
Nîmes became a Roman colony asColonia Nemausus sometime before 28 BCE, as witnessed by the earliest coins, which bear the abbreviationNEM. COL, "Colony of Nemausus".[14] Veterans of Julius Caesar's legions in his Nile campaigns were given plots of land to cultivate on the plain of Nîmes.[15]
Augustus started a major building program in the city, as elsewhere in the empire. He also gave the town a ring of ramparts 6 km (3.7 miles) long, reinforced by 14 towers; two gates remain today: the Porte d'Auguste and the Porte de France. Internally, the city was organized around thecardo anddecumanus, intersecting at the forum. TheMaison Carrée, an exceptionally well-preserved temple dating from the late 1st century BCE, stands as one of the finest surviving examples ofRoman temple architecture. Dedicated toRoma and Augustus, it bears striking resemblance to Rome'sTemple of Portunus, blendingEtruscan andGreek design influences.[11]
The greatNimes Aqueduct, many of whose remains can be seen today outside of the city, was built to bring water from the hills to the north. Where it crossed the riverGard betweenUzès andRemoulins, the spectacularPont du Gard was built. This is 20 km (12 mi) north east of the city.
The museum contains many fine objects including mosaic floors, frescoes and sculpture from rich houses and buildings found in excavations in and near the city. It is known that the town had a civil basilica, a curia, a gymnasium and perhaps a circus. Theamphitheatre is very well preserved, dates from the end of the 2nd century and was one of the largest amphitheatres in the Empire. The so-calledTemple of Diana dating from Augustus and rebuilt in the 2nd century was not a temple but was centred on anymphaeum located within theFontaine Sanctuary dedicated to Augustus and may have been a library.
The city was the birthplace of the family of emperorAntoninus Pius (138-161).
EmperorConstantine (306-337) endowed the city with baths.
It became the seat of the Diocesan Vicar,[citation needed] the chief administrative officer of southern Gaul.
The town was prosperous until the end of the 3rd century when successive barbarian invasions slowed its development. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the nearby town ofArles enjoyed more prosperity. In the early 5th century the Praetorian Prefecture was moved fromTrier in northeast Gaul to Arles.[citation needed]
Obverse: Back to back head of Agrippa left wearing rostral crown, and laureate head of Augustus right; on either side, inscription. Above and below, inscription. Border of dots. Lettering: "IMP P P DIVI F" ("IMPerator DIVI Filius Pater Patriæ", Emperor, Son of the Divine Father of the Nation).
Reverse:Crocodile to right, chained by neck to apalm-tree with tip bending left, two short palms on either side of trunk; on right, inscription; on left, inscription surmounted by a crown with two long tails to right. Border of dots. Lettering: "COL NEM" ("Colonia Nemausus", Colony of Nemausus)
When the Visigoths were accepted into the Roman Empire, Nîmes was included in their territory in 472, even after the Frankish victory at theBattle of Vouillé (507). The urban landscape went through transformation with the Goths, but much of the heritage of the Roman era remained largely intact.[citation needed]
By 725, the MuslimUmayyads had conquered the whole Visigothic territory ofSeptimania including Nîmes. In 736–737,Charles Martel and his brother led an expedition to Septimania and Provence, and largely destroyed the city (in the hands of Umayyads allied with the local Gallo-Roman and Gothic nobility), including the amphitheatre, thereafter heading back north. The Muslim government came to an end in 752, whenPepin the Short captured the city. In 754, an uprising took place against the Carolingian king, but was put down, and count Radulf, a Frank, appointed as master of the city. After the events connected with the war, Nîmes was now only a shadow of the opulentRoman city it had once been. The local authorities installed themselves in the remains ofthe amphitheatre. Islamic burials have been found in Nîmes.[16][17][18][19]
Carolingian rule brought relative peace, but feudal times in the 12th century brought local troubles, which lasted until the days ofSt. Louis. During that period Nîmes was jointly administered by a bishop, as well as by a civil authority headquartered in the old amphitheater, where lived the Magistrate/ Viguier, as well as the Viguier's retainers, the Knights of the Arena. Meanwhile the city was represented by four Consuls, whose offices were located in the old Maison Carrée.
Despite incessant feudal squabbling, Nîmes saw some progress both in commerce and industry as well as in stock-breeding and associated activities. After the last effort byRaymond VII of Toulouse, St. Louis managed to establish royal power in the region which becameLanguedoc. Nîmes thus finally came into the hands of the King of France.
During the 14th and 15th centuries the Rhone Valley underwent an uninterrupted series of invasions which ruined the economy and caused famine.[citation needed] Customs were forgotten, religious troubles developed (seeFrench Wars of Religion) and epidemics, all of which affected the city. Nîmes, which was one of the Protestant strongholds, felt the full force of repression and fratricidal confrontations (including theMichelade massacre) which continued until the middle of the 17th century, adding to the misery of periodic outbreaks of plague.[citation needed]
Les Quais de la Fontaine, the embankments of the spring that provided water for the city, the first civic gardens of France, were laid out in 1738–1755.
In the middle of the 17th century Nîmes experienced a period of prosperity. Population growth caused the town to expand, and slum housing to be replaced. To this period also belong the reconstruction of Notre-Dame-Saint-Castor, the Bishop's palace and numerous mansions (hôtels). This renaissance strengthened the manufacturing and industrial potential of the city, the population rising from 21,000 to 50,000 inhabitants.
In this same period the Fountain gardens, theQuais de la Fontaine, were laid out, the areas surrounding the Maison Carrée andthe Amphitheatre were cleared of encroachments, whilst the entire population benefited from the atmosphere of prosperity.
Following a European economic crisis that hit Nîmes with full force, theRevolutionary period awoke the slumbering demons of political and religious antagonism. TheWhite Terror added to natural calamities and economic recession, produced murder, pillage and arson until 1815. Order was however restored in the course of the century, and Nîmes became the metropolis of Bas-Languedoc, diversifying its industry into new kinds of activity. At the same time the surrounding countryside adapted to market needs and shared in the general increase of wealth.
During the Second World War, the Maquis resistance fighters Jean Robert and Vinicio Faïta were executed at Nîmes on 22 April 1943.[20] The Nîmes marshalling yards were bombed by American bombers in 1944.[21]
In April 2024, a collection of glassware dating back to theRoman period was discovered in Nîmes. The collection includesstrigils, ornateglass vases, ceramics, a glass paste cup, lamps, and fragments of funerary monuments andamphorae.[23]
Nîmes is one of the warmest cities in France. The city has ahumid subtropical climate (Köppen:Cfa), with summers being too wet for it to be classified as ahot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen:Csa). Its slightly inland, southerly location results in hot air over the city during summer months: temperatures above 34 °C are common in July and August, whereas winters are cool but not cold. Nighttime low temperatures below 0 °C are common from December to February, while snowfall occurs every year.
Climate data for Nîmes(Météo France Office Nîmes-Courbessac , altitude 59m, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1922–present)
Several important remains of theRoman Empire can still be seen in and around Nîmes:
The ellipticalRoman amphitheatre, of the 1st or 2nd century AD, is the best-preserved Roman arena in France. It was filled with medieval housing, when its walls served asramparts, but they were cleared underNapoleon. It is still used as abull fighting and concert arena.
TheMaison Carrée (Square House), a smallRoman temple dedicated to sons ofAgrippa was built c. 19 BCE. It is one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere. Visitors can watch a short film about the history of Nîmes inside.
The 18th-centuryJardins de la Fontaine (Gardens of the Fountain) built around the Romanthermae ruins.
The nearbyPont du Gard, also built by Agrippa, is a well-preservedaqueduct that used to carry water across the smallGardon river valley.
The nearby Mont Cavalier is crowned by theTour Magne ("Great Tower"), a ruined Roman tower.[30]
The castellum divisorium, a rare vestige of a Roman water inlet system.
TheMusée de la Romanité, a museum dedicated to Roman history, located outside the amphitheatre
Pieces of modern architecture can also be found :Norman Foster conceived theCarré d'art (1986), a museum of modern art andmediatheque, andJean Nouvel designed the Nemausus, apost-modern residential ensemble.
Nîmes is historically known for its textiles.[citation needed]Denim, the fabric of blue jeans, derives its name from this city (Serge de Nîmes). The blue dye was imported viaGenoa fromLahore, the capital of theGreat Mughal.
The population of Nîmes in Roman times (50 AD) was estimated at 50–60,000, and it only reached that number again in the mid-19th century. The population of Nîmes increased from 128,471 in 1990 to 146,709 in 2012, yet the biggest growth the city ever experienced happened in 1968, with a growth of +23.5% compared to 1962.
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.
Theasteroid51 Nemausa was named after Nîmes, where it was discovered in 1858.
Twice each year, Nîmes hosts one of the main Frenchbullfighting events,Feria de Nîmes (festival), and several hundreds of thousands gather in the streets.
The motorwayA9 connects Nîmes with Orange, Montpellier, Narbonne, and Perpignan, theA54 with Arles and Salon-de-Provence.
Nîmes station is the central railway station, offering connections to Paris (high-speed rail), Marseille, Montpellier, Narbonne, Toulouse, Perpignan,Figueres andBarcelona in Spain and several regional destinations. There is another station in the Saint-Césaire quarter,Saint-Césaire station, with connections to Le Grau-du-Roi, Montpellier and Avignon.
The newcontournement Nîmes – Montpellier high-speed rail line opened to passenger service on 15 December 2019 together with a new TGV station atNîmes-Pont-du-Gard station, located 12 km outside the city. The station is also located on the existing route between Nìmes and Avignon, thus providing connections between the new line and local rail service.
Nîmes bus station is adjacent to the city centre railway station. Buses connect the city with nearby towns and villages not served by rail.[35]
^Dupraz, Emmanuel. "Commémorations cultuelles gallo-grecques chez les Volques Arécomiques". In:Etudes Celtiques, vol. 44, 2018. pp. 36-38. DOI:https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.2018.2180Archived 16 September 2023 at theWayback Machine; www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_2018_num_44_1_2180
^abGates, Charles (2011).Ancient cities: the archaeology of urban life in the ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 408.ISBN978-0-203-83057-4.
^Maddison, Angus (2007), Contours of the World Economy 1–2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 41,ISBN9780191647581
^Colin M. Kraay, "The Chronology of the coinage of Colonia Nemausus",Numismatic Chronicle15 (1955), pp. 75–87.
^Alain Veyrac, "Le symbolisme de l'as de Nîmes au crocodile"Archéologie et histoire romaine vol. 1 (1998) (on-line textArchived 5 April 2010 at theWayback Machine).
^Giving rise to the example ofrime richissimeGall, amant de la Reine, alla (tour magnanime)/ Gallament de l'Arène a la Tour Magne, à Nîmes, or "Gall, lover of the Queen, passed (magnanimous gesture), gallantly from the Arena to the Tour Magne at Nîmes".
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